Hiya Ben,
First I need to apologise for abandoning your thread. I actually just forgot about it, and then saw it in my subscription list the other day. So that was my fault, didn't mean to make you think I just couldn't be bothered. So sorry about that.
Those of you that said you were called or spoken to by God/Jesus, could you please try and clarify for me? Are we talking voices in your head, a desire you did not have before, or something else?
I don't subscribe to the 'voices in your head' line of thinking in this regard. For me it's more about revelations. For example, I could pray about something in particular, being specific about my question and asking God to show me His Will. The time frame for an answer is always varied, you cannot set your own deadline for these things, and also you will not always get what you want. But on the instances I've felt God talk to me, I've had a revelation about my problem. Something I never thought of, or something I've never felt before. Perhaps I was stubbornly rigid about a certain event, and refused to back down, after praying about it I felt all resistance melt away and knew that God wanted me to do this thing. Or alternatively, I suddenly had an idea that would not only solve my issue, but make everyone happy at the same time. I guess it sounds a little odd like that, but it's very much about compulsion for me. I feel drawn to areas, to tasks, to events, to people and unless I follow that compulsion, my life feels very, very wrong. Almost like butterflies in your stomach, something is not at ease, you aren't at peace, even though nothing is outwardly wrong.
My second set of questions, if anyone will be so good as to answer, revolve around why you felt the need to pick a religion to accompany your belief in God. Just because you believed in a higher power, why did you then choose Christianity as opposed to any other single-deity religion?
I think for me at least, the order is reversed. I didn't believe in a higher power and then choose Christianity, I chose Christianity
to believe in a higher power. In fact, looking back, I would say I was firmly chosen by God, as if it was just my time to put things right. Like God had left me alone for a while, and then decided to tap me on the shoulder and ask, "How about now?".
Why do you believe in the bible?
The Bible for me, is a manual for life. It teaches me reasons for everything to do with relationships with other souls, and tells me of dangers and warnings too. I believe in the Bible, because I believe in God, and God has said that He is the author. When I read areas of the Bible, I am amazed that they can almost appear so simply in wording, yet have such deep meaning. I believe it to be unflawed, perfect, just like God. I cannot fathom that it is man-created, as we cannot make something so flawless, and so future-proof. I mean, look at Lord of the Rings. How many years did it take to make it? How many thousands of people, how many millions of dollars, yet you can watch it, and not 2 hours in (to the 12 hour trilogy), there is a continuity error. How would man possibly create something that can last 2000 years without error? I know this is disputed by Atheists and other non-believers, however many of the so called issues are translation issues, from the Hebrew and Greek. It's translated by man, and as such, has mortal errors. It's quite amazing how we just touch something, and make mistakes, it's a shame people are so hung up on them. But anyway, I think that gives a good indication why I believe it. Also recently I've done a Marriage Preparation course, and it was all backed up by scripture, and it's incredible what you can learn from it. No wonder so many marriages fail, without this teaching, it made so many things clear to me. Not that I think my marriage has a 100% chance of success, as once again, we are both mortal, and imperfect, but it's got a great foundation to move forward on.
What I'm really trying to say is, is there a reason you felt you needed a religion or holy book to accompany your accepted higher power?
Well as I explained, I didn't believe in a God, and then choose the corresponding God-peripherals.
To me it's all one package, I felt drawn to it, I felt a hole in my life and I was scared to even start considering Christianity, but I guess the more I exposed myself to it, the less scared I was, and the more excited I was to find out that the hole was no longer there, it was replaced with all this information about a wonderous God, who I can have a personal relationship with.
No problems, again apologies for forgetting about your thread.
Digit
